If you know me, then you’re well aware of the fact that I love the bad boys. Like a damn elephant to a watering hole. I’m there. I’ll even fall for the clichéd bad boy. Leather jacket. Moody. Broody. Badass. Shows no emotion. YES. But let’s get something straight, I do not, AT ALL, love a bad boy because I want to fix him. Because if I fixed him, he would no longer be bad. Why not throw a sweater vest on him while we're at it.

So why exactly do I love a bad boy? Or why does any girl for that matter?

I decided to dig into the why a little more. And to do that, I had to go back to the very first bad boy I fell for. Let’s call him Wes.

Wes and I were friends all through school, but (and I’m sure you could see this one coming) he dropped out somewhere around the tenth grade. We didn’t reconnect until after I’d graduated when he started hanging around another couple I was friends with.

Wes was 5' 9", compact, wiry, with enough energy to outdo all of us. He had a reputation for fighting, but he didn't drink, he didn't use. And he always, always took care of his friends and family first, before anything else. He had these rules, rules he stuck by and I loved that about him. The day my cousin died, Wes was there without my even asking.

But when we were in a big group of people, he turned on the arrogance, the immodesty. When it was just him and me…it’s hard to put into words how different he was. He was quiet, gentle, but still intense in this genuine, heartfelt kind of way.

So why do I think girls love bad boys? Eric Northman? Damon Salvatore? Dean Winchester? Initially, it's probably the danger or the excitement. But there's more than that, right? There has to be.

I think it all comes down to this: we want to be the person who gets to see who the boy is when no one else is looking.

And I think in some ways, that's what we all want. We want to be special. We want to hold the keys to the great, impenetrable castle. We want to connect with someone on a level no one else can. That's why I love a bad boy, anyway.

Hey YA'LLS! This week over on the BNW Blog we're doing character interviews. This is by far one of my favorite writing exercises, so I was stoked to take part. And since I couldn't pick just one character, I decided to pick two and have Nick interview Cas.

They are two of the four boys from ALTERED. They're very much a family, albeit a dysfunctional one.

Here's an excerpt:

Nick: (peruses list of questions, eyes moderator) This seems like a massive waste of time.

Cas: (smirks, turns to moderator) He has trouble reading. Just give him a minute.

Nick: (scowls at Cas, clears throat) What do you like to do with your time? Besides annoy the hell out of me.

You can check out the whole interview HERE. And there's plenty of other cool stuff going on over there, so take a look at previous posts.